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In his first year with Mercedes in Formula One, world championship Lewis Hamliton is not about to predict a title for his new team before the first race has even been run.

Talk in he paddock after hugely successful tests at Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona by both Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, however, is that Hamilton has to be considered among the favourites for this season’s championship.

In an interview with Autosport magazine, Hamilton played down those expectations and said Mercedes management has not put undue pressure on him to win a second world championship right out of the gate.

“I don’t think there are any expectations, no,” Hamilton said. “If anything, I feel like I have a free ticket. It’s a year where we know we may not have the best package, but it’s a challenge for me.”

He said he is ready for any challenge, something that he has always done in his F-1 career.

“And I don’t think that there’s pressure from outside for me to do anything with that challenge,” he said. “It’s just more for me to enjoy working with the team and improving.

“I think the pressure is more on the other guys. They have the pressure to go and compete and perform. For us, we only have everything to gain.”

One of those drivers, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, said this week he thinks Hamilton will be the guy to beat once he season starts March 17 at Melbourne with the Australian Grand Prix.

“Lewis is a driver who has always shown he can fight for the championship,” Massa said.

“He is very, very quick, and he has always proven that when he has a competitive car, he is going to be fighting for the wins and for the championship.”

TOYOTA SAYS SORRY

The season-long woes of Kyle Busch in 2012 driving the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in NASCAR Sprint Cup have been well documented.

And they have continued this season with a blown engine at Daytona and more trouble at Phoenix on Sunday.

Well this week, David Wilson, senior vice- president of Toyota Racing Development, said it was time to “man up” and take responsibility for TRD’s failure to provide teams with reliable power plants.

“I feel the most for Kyle because purely by circumstance, purely by misfortune, he’s suffered the most amongst all of our drivers in the past couple of years,” he told the NASCAR Race Hub television program. “We likely cost him (Kyle) a shot in The Chase last year.”

As for Busch, he just wants to put it all behind him and concentrate on winning at his home track — Las Vegas Motor Speedway — this Sunday.

“Yeah, Vegas always means a little bit more pressure — more pressure on myself — just because it’s the hometown and you want to win there,” he said. “Thankfully, I have won there and I’ve knocked that one off the list, but certainly you want to win there every year. I love Vegas, the atmosphere and everything going on around that place.”

FINISH LINES

Reed Sorenson will fill in for Michael Annett in the No. 43 Nationwide Series Richard Petty Racing Ford at Las Vegas on Saturday. Annett was injured in a crash at Daytona and underwent surgery for a fractured and dislocated sternum. Sorenson will remain the driver until Annett is cleared by NASCAR officials to race ... Ottawa graphic artist Brendan Droppo had his work on display in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Subway Fresh Fit 500 by the way a paint scheme he designed for the No. 44 Xxxtreme Motorsports Ford driven by Scott Riggs. Unfortunately, Riggs lasted only 18 laps and finished last. The same car is also entered in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway ... Television numbers keep getting better for NASCAR. According to Sports Business Journal, Fox drew a 5.3 overnight Nielsen rating for the Sprint Cup Subway Fresh Fit 500 Phoenix, up 6% from a 5.0 overnight last year. And over at ESPN viewership was up slightly for the Phoenix NNS race to 2.5 million from 2.4 million last year.

INDYCAR REPORT HIT AND MISS

A report for Hulman & Co. prepared by the Boston Consulting Group came up with some interesting conclusions. And some not so interesting.

Hulman owns Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the IndyCar Series.

One of the points by BCG was that purses should be increased to about $240,000 a race for the winner and that the subsidy now paid to teams to the tune of $1.1 million a season should end.

I am all for both.

It is a shame that IndyCar drivers collect a piddly $35,000 for a win while their counterparts in NASCAR Sprint Cup get upwards of $500,000 for most race wins.

No wonder IndyCar drivers clamour for jobs in stock cars.

What I don’t agree with in the BCG report is the suggestion IndyCar move to a 19-week schedule starting in April and ending in August, with just 15 races.

Last season IndyCar stopped racing in mid-September and was completely off the media radar while NASCAR was starting its 10-race Chase for the Championship.

Canada’s Paul Tracy — the Thrill from West Hill — will be honoured next month with induction into the Long Beach Grand Prix Walk of Fame.

Tracy won his first professional race at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in 1990 when he took the checkered flag in the Firestone Indy Light Series.

Three years after that, Tracy won the 1993 Grand Prix in the Southern California city, the same year he became the first Canadian to win the then Molson Indy in Toronto.

He won at Long Beach three more times — 2000, 2003 and 2004 — tying him with Mario Andretti for second in all-time Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach wins behind Al Unser Jr. with six.

Tracy will be one of two former IndyCar drivers — the other will be Mexico’s Adrian Fernandez — to get the honour on April 18.

“Paul Tracy and Adrian Fernandez have made legendary contributions to the field of motorsports, and they have truly earned their place on the Motorsports Walk of Fame” Long Beach mayor Bob Foster said. “Paul Tracy has four wins here at Long Beach, and Adrian Fernandez is one of the sport’s greatest international ambassadors.”

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F-1's Hamilton feeling no pressure

Mercedes driver among early faves to claim title

In his first year with Mercedes in Formula One, world championship Lewis Hamliton is not about to predict a title for his new team before the first race has even been run.

Talk in he paddock after hugely successful tests at Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona by both Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, however, is that Hamilton has to be considered among the favourites for this season’s championship.

In an interview with Autosport magazine, Hamilton played down those expectations and said Mercedes management has not put undue pressure on him to win a second world championship right out of the gate.

“I don’t think there are any expectations, no,” Hamilton said. “If anything, I feel like I have a free ticket. It’s a year where we know we may not have the best package, but it’s a challenge for me.”

He said he is ready for any challenge, something that he has always done in his F-1 career.

“And I don’t think that there’s pressure from outside for me to do anything wit